Selling women's underwear has always been fertile territory for a certain kind of comedy – the kind we saw in Britain with the long-running department store sitcom, Are You Being Served?

Now it's the turn of the Saudis to get their knickers in a twist (so to speak) over the question of who should serve the customers: a man or a woman?

Under the rules established by the Wahhabi sect, unrelated men and women are forbidden to mix, and offenders can be severely punished. But trying to enforce such rules in a modern society quickly becomes a nightmare, and the Great Lingerie Debate shows just how ludicrous it can get.

The story so far: In 2005 the Saudi labour ministry issued a decree ordering shops to ensure that purchasers of lingerie were served by women. This was presented at the time as a progressive move, aimed at increasing female employment in a society where there is still a lot of resistance to the idea of women going out to work.

Despite threatening inspections and fines for shops that failed to comply after a two-year deadline, the ministry did nothing about it and now says the decree was not compulsory. A survey in Jeddah four years ago found that out of 247 shops selling lingerie and beauty products only three employed women.

This month the issue surfaced again when Reem Asaad, a female economics professor in Jeddah, called for a boycott of lingerie shops that don't employ saleswomen. Apart from the female employment question, she argues that women can feel embarrassed buying underwear from male staff:

"This is a sensitive part of women's bodies," she told the BBC. "You need to have some discussions regarding size, colour and attractive choices and you definitely don't want to get into such a discussion with a stranger, let alone a male stranger."

Announcing her boycott campaign, Ms Asaad said: "The only way to get things done is putting pressure on the industry, and (for) retailers to change."

But implementing the rules is far from simple. Yesterday the Jeddah-based daily, Arab News, described the experience of one Saudi boutique chain, Nayomi, which has more than 30 shops. Most of these are "family" stores – meaning they are open to men and women who are married or related. The remainder – about one-third – are for women only.

Following the ministry's decree, Nayomi decided to experiment by hiring women at two of its "family" stores. Although this seems to be what the labour ministry wants, the company is still not sure if it is breaking the segregation rules set by the religious police. What happens, for example, if female sales staff come into contact with male customers?

One option is to create women-only areas within the "family" shops (which involves structural alterations); another is to go the whole hog and and banish men entirely.

The trouble with women-only shops is that they are less attractive to customers because they have to block their windows so that passers-by can't see in. Their running costs are also higher because they have to employ a security guard to keep men out.

The other problem is that Saudi women often bring their husband along. "Women don't always want to shop without their husbands," according to Sarah bint Sahal, an area retail manager for Nayomi. "Most of the times the husbands are the ones paying."

So, where do they go from here? Nobody seems to know. In Britain, Are You Being Served? ran to 69 episodes. The real-life Saudi version could last a lot longer.